Finished for real

There's a part of the movie Grey Gardens that lives on in our household. It's calling whatever you're wearing "the costume for today". If you haven't seen the movie, it's a documentary, and I recommend it if you're into strange and crazy people from 1975. (There was also a musical of it, I guess?) But more to the point, one of the main characters in the movie gets dressed one morning, and in evaluating its merits, she says:

This is the best thing to wear for today, you understand. Because I don't like women in skirts and the best thing is to wear pantyhose or some pants under a short skirt, I think. Then you have the pants under the skirt and then you can pull the stockings up over the pants underneath the skirt. And you can always take off the skirt and use it as a cape. So I think this is the best costume for today. (quote from imdb)

Not only do I completely agree with Little Edie that you should -- at all times -- be wearing a garment that can at any moment be converted into a cape, I also agree that you should always think carefully about what the best costume for the day might be. It was in this spirit that I blocked the green Chevron Scarf.

Last night, as I was preparing to go out to a nice, casual dinner with my Sidekick, I noticed that my costume was green and brown and missing something. I then noticed my Chevron scarf wadded up on a chair (this seems to be what I do with things I make). When I picked the scarf up to consider wearing it, it folded itself into thirds immediately, revealing itself to be an unwearable flat tube.

I stared at it. I thought about it. Then, knowing the scarf was necessary if I wanted to be wearing the best costume for today, I grabbed a damp towel and my iron, and blocked my scarf.


My PIC, who finished her Chevron Scarf long before I finished mine, warned me that "it's still gonna want to fold into thirds after you iron it, but you can just do it again later." She's right. And I might do it again later, but I can't be sure.

What I do know is this: With even the wrong side looking good,

this scarf was just what I needed for the best costume for last night. (Well, I could've worn a skirt-cape, but I didn't want to make other people at the restaurant feel bad for having inferior costumes. I'm sensitive like that.)

Longer, wider, faster

Last time you checked around a week ago, I'd started a second Chevron Scarf. Here's what I had then:

Considering my first one took 6 months, I'm impressed at how quickly (relatively speaking) this one is going. This is what I have now:

Long, right?

The colors are much more beautiful than these photos show. You'll see.

This one also seems a little wider than my first, but that's not important. So let's just move on.

Hey! Thank you so much for your input on what to make with the Chinese yarn! Your ideas were all so good and helpful! What would I do without you?! Really.

I like the idea of making something for my sweet friend, as many of you suggested. If I went with socks, I'd definitely have to double the yarn or add some other kind of thread to it, because it seems like they'd wear through in about three seconds otherwise.

But. If I were to go in a shawl/wrap direction (not for my sweet friend), I love the Hanami shawl that Kristy suggested. There's also a little wrap in Weekend Knitting. (Can I sub this Chinese yarn for mohair, do you think, or no?) I'm a little worried that I may have to give in and get that Folk Shawls book you're all going on about. Damn it! Don't you know I'm drowning in books over here? Sheesh.

Thank goodness Seth kindly reminded me that books are free at my local li-berry. (He also had the brilliant idea of incorporating Chinese knitting designs into the project. He is all good ideas, that Seth.)

Note to self: When at said library, look for Knitting For Peace. It has the pattern for the Swirl Hat that Kim went and made in her obvious attempt to destroy me, rather, to help me with ideas for my holiday knitting.

Oh, what do you know, my new issue of Interweave Knits just arrived. Gotta go!

Hair of the dog

Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Socks That Rock yarn Medium weight. Little Bunny Foo Foo color.


Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Socks That Rock yarn Medium weight. Rose Quartz color.

Um.

What can I tell you? I started another Chevron Scarf. Laugh all you want at my foolishness, but if you'd had these yarns in your stash, you would've done the same thing. I assure you.

P.S. On a more serious note, we are sending all kinds of good thoughts and prayers to the people and animals affected by the fires here in Southern California. My loved ones and I are safe and sound, luckily nowhere near the current danger. We're all just hoping it gets better soon.

Let's just say it's finished. For OFTI's sake.

What's that? You thought I'd never finish the Chevron Scarf?

Me either, frankly.

But I did! Well, I mostly did.

It just needs to be blocked.

Funny. The moment I started thinking about blocking, the whole thing kinda went dark. Huh.


Pattern: Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Velvet Leaf and Castagna - 1 hank of each. I followed my PIC's lead on this one and just stopped once the yarn ran out. No measuring. Just "that looks fine"-ing.

Needles: Addi Turbos (Ha ha, hilarious. Imagine if I hadn't used the "turbos" how long it would've taken me) US size 5.

Modifications: I did not, as the pattern suggested, make it "at the last minute". Unless minutes are now measured in 6-month increments. If so, then I suppose I didn't make any modifications to this pattern, as it took me 6 months to complete this scarf.

Measurements: Without having blocked it and without stretching it at all, this scarf is 35"+35"+7". Why 35 plus 35 plus 7? Because I just measured it using my big quilting grid/mat thingie which only goes up to 35". Imagine my surprise when I added it up and it's just 1/2" short of what the pattern calls for! That half inch will surely appear once I get to blocking. Good one, me!

What do you think the chances are that I'll block it? I'd like to think good. After six months and all this gritching, I'd like to say there's a good chance I'll block this scarf. Although this would suggest otherwise. So it's hard to know, people. Hard to know.

Oh, Irony. Is there nothing you can't do?

I have so much fabric. So, so much fabric. A shameful amount, really. I have lightweight fabrics and heavier-weight fabrics. You want whimsy in a fabric? I've got it. All class? Got that too. And yet...

I'm carrying my knitting around in a raggedy-ass plastic bag.

The affront is not just that this bag is ugly or that it makes a lot of noise when you touch it. (Like people turn to see what all the commotion is about when I take it out of my purse. It's that kind of noisy.) The real rub is that I could make myself a perfectly glorious project bag. A really, truly spectacular little tote. I've got the fabric!

And yet somehow it just doesn't happen.

So I crinkle, crankle, crunkle in waiting rooms, at the car wash, at a friend's house. I apologize for the noise and try to keep it down.

Ah ha! Maybe that's why my Chevron Scarf isn't finished!

I'm so concerned about all the noise, I don't ever reach in to grab the little guy.

My poor little scarf is trapped in a loud bag 'cuz Mama won't make a quieter one!

Does that sound like excuse-making to you in any way? No? Yeah. I thought not. It's too airtight an argument to be an excuse.

Awesome.

So many ways to blow it. So little time.

I don't know what to tell you. Sometimes everything seems just fine. La la la.


And then you look a little closer -- perhaps in better light -- and it's not fine.




And then you wonder, "Why did I look closer? Everything was so perfectly fine before I went and did that."

If I were a different person, I could move past the cable-like nubbin ridge (CLNR) in the middle of my Chevron scarf. I would throw caution to the wind, embrace the imperfection that is life itself, and I would move on. Not rip the thing back. Just move on.

So, next step: Get my hands on one of those devices that turns you into a different person.

I'm long and I'm strong and I'm down to get the friction on

That thing was catchy, right?! I am tired of magazines telling me flat butts are the thing. So say we all.

Have I already gone on the obligatory rant about how this Chevron scarf pattern is in a book called Last Minute Knitted Gifts? If I have, forgive me. If I haven't, would someone be so kind as to explain to me how - really, how - it would be possible to knit this at any minute that one would call "last" without seriously compromising one's hand health and/or sanity? Boy oh boy. These people.

Also, please note: my PIC, B-SNAK, and my sidekick and I are all headed out of town first thing tomorrow for a conference. We'll return late Saturday. In order to keep you from getting too sad or missing me too much, I've chosen a post for you to read for each day I'm gone. These are some of my favorites from last year (I think they're all last year).

Wednesday: Huh. That's funny. On mine it said failure was an option.

Thursday: This creeps me out.

Friday: None of my beeswax

Saturday: Half-Fetching review

You can pace yourself, or you can read them all now. As with all things, it's really up to you. Have a great week!

A sign that I've had time to watch TV

Behold! My Chevron Scarf has doubled in size! That is due in no small part to the Battlestar Galactica mini-marathon my sidekick and I had the other night. (I can't sit and just watch that show. Really. I'd feel twelve kinds of bad if I just sat and watched.)


This progress makes the scarf all of 4 inches long. So that's real good.

Also? I was poking around on people's blogrolls (now that sounds dirty), and on yes, I MADE that there was this link to Kuler. I haven't looked too closely yet, but Kuler appears to be a site that is all about color combinations -- tasty, fantastic, pull-my-eyes-out good color combinations. Go look! It's so soothing!! (How often do I use multiple exclamation points? Rarely. So you know I mean it.) Totally useful for every kind of craft there is, including home decoration or arranging food on a plate in a pleasing way (so that second one is a stretch. And?). Go check it out.

Someday I'll be able to do all that crafting I was doing before. Remember that? When I made all kinds of stuff? That was fun. More of that, please. Oh no? I have to figure out where to put all those articles? Hm. Well. I'll just think of that as crafting. Mind-burning, soul-twisting, weird-memories-eliciting crafting. That should make it fantastic.

Maybe I'll start a blog about that. I'll use all of Leopold's ideas from yesterday's comments and will post every day about how I used my articles as kitchen tiles and mattress filling. You'd read that, right?

No?

Grrr.

(shaking my fists at the heavens) Aaaarticleeees!

Do not count me out, fellow knitters

The Chevron Scarf is officially underway.

Yes. I have said this before. But this time, I mean it. Want proof?

Ha HA! I have knit a few rows. That makes it official.

This terrible photo clearly shows how beautifully the two yarns alternate. You've got your green rows then your multi-colored rows. Delicious! I think it should be good. I also think it should be finished right in time for the red-hot summer. Because my timing is nothing if not horrible.

But you know what? If women can walk around in high heels, destroying their feet and backs for the sake of beauty, I can certainly wear a woolen scarf in the height of summer, no? Oh, right. I would look insane if I did that. Look at that woman! What is she doing to her neck? Why in the world would she be wearing a wool scarf this time of year? So she can show off her knitting? How ridiculous! And insane!

Oh! But maybe if I wear my high heels while wearing the scarf, people will understand. They'll be so taken by my stunning shoes, they will see that I am not insane, I am just fashionable. And then they, too, will want to wear a woolen scarf in the middle of the red-hot summer.

Genius, me!